OCD Treatment - What is OCD

In this video, I talk about the treatment process for OCD. This is the first video in this series. In this video, I provide a general overview of OCD and OCD Treatment including the goals and expectations for both the client and the therapist.

Video Transcript

00:00 All right. Hello and welcome to this training on OCD treatment in the OCD recovery process. My name is Matt Codde. I'm a licensed clinical social worker and I'm the founder of the OCD academy and I just want to welcome you here today. I'm really excited to be here with you. Um, you know, and in this kind of, just to give you a brief kind of overview, big picture of this, uh, this training that we're going to be doing together, this, this whole training has put together to really answer some just general overview questions about ocd or obsessive compulsive disorder and really helped provide some information to those of you who may be struggling with OCD or family members of people with OCD to really help get you on that right path and making sure that you understand the treatment process itself and so you, so it makes sure not only you're heading down the right path, but you understand the tools, you understand how to apply them and you understand how this process works.

00:55 Kind of from a big picture overview. So what I'm going to do in each kind of part of this training is I'm going to bring to the table one question that I get and I'm going to kind of go in depth on that question in these trainings are meant to be kind of bite size, so it's meant to really be something that you can consume quickly and you know, really make sure that you have the right information so that you're actually implementing the right stuff and heading down the right path on your recovery process. So with that said, in this first video, I want to just do, uh, the, the common question I get of just, you know, what is OCD, right? I want to just explain ocd real quick. So when we talk about ocd, um, we need to understand that OCD is a, is a complex issue in the sense of there's multiple components, right?

01:38 And so ocd stands for obsessive compulsive disorder. And so what we're looking for when we're looking to accurately diagnose OCD is we're looking for those two components. We're looking for the obsessions and the compulsions. Now, OCD can take on various formats. Um, you know, is as far as it could be, you know, different, different levels of different types of obsessions and also different types of compulsions. So, um, you know, it's kind of this broad spectrum of things that can, people can experience. So some of the obsessions that people experienced that are very common on a fall into these categories. And of course there are others, I'm not going to be able to just list them all on the top of my head, but, you know, I mean, you have contamination, ocd, you have, um, different harmful thoughts, sexual thoughts, religious thoughts, a hidden roanoke city relationship, ocd, somatic, the perfectionism, you know, hoarding.

02:27 Um, and then, um, uh, you know, like I said, there's, there's various other so people can get a really. The obsession is really just this kind of idea or thought or feared that really someone gets kind of latched onto so to speak and just kind of repeats and keeps popping up in their head again and again and again. And now I'm, the basic cycle of OCD is composed of four parts. So you have the obsession, right? Which is the thought Then you have the uncomfortable feeling or sensation that someone gets as a result of that thought. So you have, it might be anxiety, guilt, doubt, uncertainty, right in that kind of stirs up this emotional response within someone and then they do a compulsion, right? To alleviate the thought and feeling right to help, you know, kind of combat the uncomfortable thoughts and feelings that they're experiencing.

03:15 So those compulsions can take on a variety of forms as well, you know, things like, um, you know, obviously washing and checking are really common ones that most people know about. But then there are things like mental compulsion, like thought suppression and avoidance and reassurance. And I mean, there, there's so many ways to be sneaky about compulsions where someone, when someone has ocd, so it could be something as simple as a, you know, a wife asking her husband if she is a good parent because she's having harmful thoughts about her, about her child and when the husband or significant other says, oh yeah, no, I think you're a great parent. That relieves that anxiety. Right? So even a simple question to get reassurance can be a compulsion. And so, or avoiding things that might trigger you, I mean, they're really, the list is endless. And so when we talk about ocd, we need to understand that these components, and again, those compulsion's offer the person relief and then as the compulsion is offer relief, what happens has, it reinforces the fear which makes the obsessions come back more, that then generates more anxiety and then the compulsion's don't work as well, so they have to do more compulsion to get the same level of relief.

04:22 And it's Kinda like a, almost an addiction in that way where, you know, you, uh, the, the higher the anxiety gets, the more you have to do compulsion's to really reach that same level of relief. And then what ends up happening is you just ended up doing compulsion's more and more and more and they end up taking more time and impacting your life in various ways, be at your job, your relationships, all that. And that really is the problem of ocd in my opinion. And, you know, and I speak into this not only as a, uh, a treatment provider of ocd, but also someone who's actually experienced it personally. And I'm actually pretty open about talking about my story and, um, you know, I know a lot of treatment providers out there, even if they experienced it firsthand, they're very reluctant to share that. Um, but, you know, I, I just believe in the idea of being transparent and sharing my story when it comes to ocd because that's what got me into this in the first place is I actually struggled with this myself when I was in my late teenage years.

05:19 Um, you know, even early twenties and I was having to try to figure out how to get better. And this was kind of before a lot of stuff was available on the Internet. So, you know, it's, it's nice that we have so many resources out there available to help people. But you know, when you're starting off with this problem and you're having these thoughts pop into your head and you know, you're, you, you don't know that it's ocd. I mean, that's one of the biggest problems and um, you know, if I had to explain ocd to someone who doesn't have it, I kind of liked to use this analogy of this lens, right? And I think the, the biggest problem about ocd is that it really of hijacks your thinking. And what I mean by that is, is that OCD will latch onto your thinking, right?

06:04 And so the obsessions and compulsions and the relief, all that stuff basically kind of almost forms this lens that you see the world through. And what happens is, is that the more and more you start thinking, you start analyzing the thoughts and all this stuff happens, what happens is you start to almost think that you're now seeing the world how it really is and that you've just been kind of ignorant to whatever you're afraid of in the past. Right? And so almost everyone I've talked to with OCD can remember like this instant of this shift that took place when they started worrying about whatever they're worrying about. And, and now like they see the world through that Lens. So someone with contamination, ocd, let's just say, um, you know, there's a point where they, they learned about something that could have been contaminated wherever it triggered some fear and they started this loop, right?

06:51 Well, what happens is, is that now, you know, when they see things now they see things through the lens of ocd, meaning that when they look at a door knob, now they see something that's potentially contaminated as opposed to something. And we'll just open the door, right? When someone has harm ocd, you know, the idea of watching a scary movie or an action movie of violent movie, you know, it, it now becomes something extremely triggering. Great. And what happens is, is you start seeing the world differently because ocd kind of almost kind of forms of goggles over your eyes, so to speak, or like this sunglasses or lens that you see the world through. And it really hijacks all of your thinking. Right? So you start thinking that you're now seeing the world. How'd it really is? Or You weren't aware of this earlier, but now it is that.

07:34 And then it just kind of builds upon itself. Right, and once you get stuck in that lens of ocd, it's very hard to get out, right? It really is. It's like the cars. The more anxiety you feel, the more you feel compelled to do compulsion's because they do offer relief, right? Compulsion's actually offer relief and that's something that's really important to understand is that when someone's doing their compulsion is it really does bring them relief, but it doesn't help them in the long term and that's really when we talk about recovery, and I'm going to talk about that in the next part of this training. Where we're talking about is really learning to get out of that lens of OCD, really how to step out of it and more importantly, stay out of it and not get sucked back into it. Because when you're in, when you are stuck in that lens of ocd, things can get really dark really quick.

08:23 And so for those of you that are struggling out there with ocd, I'm maybe one of the best things that I can say is that, you know, there are tools and techniques and strategies that can help you get unstuck and that, you know, um, while w, and I'm going to talk about recovery and then the next part of the training. But, um, so I'll, I'll, I'll handle that in the next, um, next training. But I just want to be very clear in this video when we're talking about what OCD is, you know, it's really this combination of thoughts, feelings, compulsion's and relief. And when someone is experiencing that, they kind of experienced in this radical loop. And the more, the deeper you are in that loop and that lens of ocd, the faster things go in your head and the more, the higher the anxiety is.

09:06 And all of that stuff bleeds into your personal life in one way or another. And so part of what we, what we try to do in the treatment process is really to identify those behaviors that are keeping that loop going and then start to remove those behaviors. To ultimately help you get out of that loop. So like I said though, I'm going to talk about the recovery process in part two and so if you enjoy this first video, please meet me over in part two. I'm also be sure to subscribe and like this channel and comment below, give me feedback. I've also included some free resources that I have available to anyone out there who is struggling with ocd that I have linked below. So all you need to do is click on those resources. You'll be taken over to my site, which is www.ocdacademy.com, where you can download those resources and uh, you know some. And then ultimately that will help you with your recovery process. So I will see you over in part two of this training and where we're going to talk about the recovery process.

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